Rating the Suburbs: Why I Love Aquadanza

In March, 61-year-old Debbie Crabtree joined the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center in Strongsville to prepare for her daughter's wedding. Wanting to get the most from her membership, she signed up for Aguadanza, the rec center's new Wednesday night, one-hour Latin water dancing class. Like Zumba but with an aquatic twist, this class has up to 30 students wading in the activity pool as they dance to a rotating list of fast-paced routines for guests to build stamina and exercise a wide range of muscles.

It's a nonstop hour of constant movement in the water, and it's really energizing. I feel so good afterward, and it's what I needed. I look forward to it every week. I can't imagine women of any age who couldn't do this class. It's just so easy in the water. When the hour begins, the instructor has us march to the music with our raised knees in the water as high as we can raise them. She kind of gets us acclimated to the water first, and then she does different movements. She uses every part of a person, like our arms, our legs, moving the water away from us with our hands, which is a great toning exercise for your arms. She does a Hawaiian dance for your hips. She makes sure that we move every part of our body in the water. — as told to James Bigley II